Before resigning Thompson told Yahoo board he had cancer

Yahoo's CEO Scott Thompson. who resigned after it was revealed that he lied about his college degree on his resumé, had apparently told the board before resigning, that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.According to the report, the disclosure was "made late last week, as evidence emerged that appeared to contradict the CEO's assertions that he wasn't responsible for an error in his academic record."While the latest revelation might come as a shocker, shareholders had been gunning for Thompson's head after shareholder, New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, revealed that the CEO had lied about his bachelor's degree.According to Yahoo's filing with Securities Exchange Commission, Thompson's CV stated that he had a degree in computer science from a small college in Easton, Massachusetts. Yahoo had at first tried to dismiss it as an "inadvertent error", and it appeared it would support Thompson as the new CEO.The company had even issued a statement saying, “This in no way alters that fact that Mr Thompson is a highly qualified executive with a successful track record leading large consumer technology companies,” Yahoo said.[caption id="attachment_308249" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Former CEO Scott Thompson. AP"][/caption]However there was lot of resentment against Thompson and the fact he was continuing as CEO even after he admitted that he had lied about his degree. On Sunday, Yahoo finally announced that Scott Thompson was resigning as CEO in an effort to show that it was serious about the issue that had angered shareholders. Ross Levinsohn, who oversees Yahoo’s content and advertising services, has been appointed as interim CEO, making him the fourth person to run Yahoo in eight months.Yahoo has hired Thompson, the former head of eBay’s PayPal, in January hoping for turnaround in its fortunes, a decision that has now clearly failed.But will Thompson's cancer revelation ignite some sympathy for a man who was being dismissed as a liar last week? Perhaps.